painACTION.com is a free, non-promotional online program designed to support self-management and improve overall function in people with chronic pain. This study tested painACTION.com's ability to increase the use of self-management skills in people with chronic migraine headaches. A total of 185 participants completed the study. Participants exposed to painACTION.com were more confident that they could prevent headaches and manage headache-related pain and disability, and reported more use of symptom-management strategies, including relaxation and seeking social support, than the control group. They also reported more daily activities and less migraine-related psychological distress, including decreased depression, anxiety, and stress.
The full report of this study, "A Randomized Trial of a Web-based Intervention to Improve Migraine Self-Management and Coping" was published in the February 2012 issue of Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain (Volume 52, Issue 2). Headache is the official publication of the American Headache Society.
"A critical component of comprehensive migraine treatment is engaging the patient in self-management," says lead researcher Jonas Bromberg, PsyD, Director of Health Communications and Senior Research Scientist at Inflexxion, the company that created painACTION.com. "Self-management training should help patients learn how to identify, avoid, and manage headache triggers, and learn to perform other essential prevention, management, and coping behaviors. The integration of behavioral support in the medical care of migraine is essential in helping people with migraine to manage their condition more effectively, safely manage their prescription pain medications, avoid disease progression, and reduce the high cost of migraine and migraine-related disability to individuals and society."
"Study participants' improved ability to manage their pain and pain symptoms indicates that painACTION.com can be an important element of a comprehensive disease management approach," says Kevin Zacharoff, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs for Inflexxion. "Many people with migraine may have limited access to expert behavioral and lifestyle-change support, or are reluctant to seek mental health services. Health care providers who refer their patients to painACTION.com can help meet a critical public health need by making behavioral support available in a more timely way for larger numbers of migraine patients."
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